Screenshot/CNN
Enrique Peña Nieto and Donald Trump.
President Donald Trump said Friday he "absolutely" wants Mexico to pay for the massive wall along the US-Mexico border, during a meeting with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto at the G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany.Trump made the comment after a reporter shouted a question his way about whether he still wanted Mexico to pay.
"Absolutely," he said, according to a pool report.
Mexico has repeatedly insisted it will not pay for such a wall along its border with the US, a proposal that won Trump some of his loudest applause lines during his campaign.
But Trump has spoken less in recent months about getting Mexico to pay for the wall, which is aimed at controlling the flow of illegal immigration over the US's southern border. Trump has even proposed including solar panels on the border wall, saying during a rally in Iowa last month that the energy created would allow for Mexico to "pay much less."
The meeting was the first between the two leaders since last August, right in the heat of the campaign season. Peña Nieto canceled a meeting between the two that was set for January, scrapping that sit-down because of the border-wall issue.
"We've all had a very successful day and a very interesting day," Trump said before being asked about the border wall. "It's great to be with my friend, the president of Mexico. We're negotiating NAFTA and some other things with Mexico. Let's see how it all turns out. But I think we've made very good progress."
Watch the comment below:
Does he still want Mexico to pay for the wall? Hard to hear, but pool reports Trump answered, "absolutely." pic.twitter.com/EqznN4TDjT
- Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) July 7, 2017